July 6, 2014 by Anthony Ha (@anthonyha)

 

Dutch Fashion Designer Crafts Solar Dress

 

 

Here’s an unusual way to keep your smartphone charged — with a solar-powered dress.

That’s what fashion designer Pauline van Dongen is developing with her startup Wearable Solar. She brought a prototype dress to Brooklyn’s Northside Festival last month, where I had a chance to see the dress in action.

 

Van Dongen told me that she had two main inspirations: One of them is the fact that we highly depend on connectivity. We’re all addicted to our smartphones and we want them constantly powered, and the better our batteries get, the more we’ll use them. And at the same time, working as a werable tech designer, I know the difficulties when integrating these kind of bulky batteries that don’t allow for any comfort or wearability. So that’s why I thought, why not power your phone through your clothes? And eventually power other interactive qualities that our garments are becoming a platform for.

 

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